God Can Use The Rahab In Us

God can use the Rahab in us

Joshua 2:1-4 &12-14

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. : Go look over the land, he said, especially Jericho. So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. 2 - The king of Jericho was told, Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land. 3- So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab; bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land. 4 - But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, Yes the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from.

12-Now then, pleases swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign. 13-that you will spare the lives of my father and mother and brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them; and that you will save us from death. 14-Our lives for your lives they assured her. If you do not tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.

Subject: You don’t have to be perfect to serve God!

Let us first set the setting.... paint a picture in your mind of the time period and location. We are in the great city of Jericho. A city on the plains just West of the river Jordan and Northeast of Jerusalem. A city of great power and wealth guarded by a great wall. Within these walls and I do mean literally in the wall itself of Jericho lived the heroine of our topic this morning.

Rahab, a woman who is listed in the genealogy of Jesus. Rahab is noted as a character in the story of Joshua and his conquest of Jericho. Rahab, a woman utilized in God’s scope or plan. By the way, did I mention that Rahab was a harlot, a prostitute, a lady of the night, a strumpet, a Jezebel, a hooker, a hussy, a wench, and a loose woman. Rahab was not what one would call respectable or acceptable by standards set by society. In fact, throughout the centuries, Christian commentators have attempted to explain away this seemingly inappropriate woman. Many scholars such as Josephus refer to Rahab simply as an innkeeper. However, if we refer to the corresponding scriptures Hebrew 11:31 & James 2:25, such an interpretation cannot be maintained. Rahab doubtless was an innkeeper, and her establishment no doubt was a cafe’ as well as an inn. Nevertheless, she was clearly a woman of ill repute as well. However, Rahab’s unacceptable behavior did not procure God from using her. In fact, because of Rahab, the spies of Joshua were able to go undetected in the city of Jericho and obtain vital data in order to destroy the wall and conquer the city. Let us allow the potency of this fact to be absorbed. Let’s contemplate upon just how God used what many would call a nobody to put his plan in motion. Rahab was not a high priestess. She was not of royal lineage. Rahab was not of great wealth or high education. She was a woman who heard of this Great God we serve, and decided she wanted to do the same. She professed of having a change of heart when she heard of the Red Sea evaporation. She proclaimed of how her hardness had melted when she heard of God’s Greatness. Now Rahab did not experience these events first hand. She knew nothing about God. She had no knowledge of his teachings. She was not aware what was required of her to be forgiven of her sins. Regardless, she had the resolve to expect the unexpected because she had heard of the greatness of God. Because of her newfound faith, she was able to a) convince her family to have enough courage to not reveal or release the spies to the kings men. In addition, b) hide these spies, when the king sent out guardsmen to capture and eliminate. Rahab had enough faith to believe that these men of God would indeed allow her and her family to be spared.

Each of us has a little Rahab in us. None of us are exactly where God wants us to be in our life. Some of us have things in our past that we actually feel will prohibit God from loving us. Each of us has fallen short at some time or the other. However, these actions will not preclude any of us from obtaining grace from God or keep him from using us in his perfect plan. God can use the Rahab in Us! God can use anyone and anything to obtain an end result. If God can make a rock praise him, surly he has the ability to use these broke down vessels of ours. God can use the Rahab that is in us!